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Earth's clearest skies revealed

POSSIBLY the clearest skies on Earth have been found – but to exploit them, astronomers will have to set up a telescope in one of the planet’s harshest climates.

Will Saunders of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, and his colleagues wanted to find the best sites for astronomy on the Antarctic plateau. Combining observations from satellites and ground stations with climate models, they evaluated different factors that affect telescope vision, such as the amount of water vapour, wind speeds and atmospheric turbulence.

The team found that the plateau offers world-beating atmospheric conditions – …